2013 Top Advisor Rankings: Connecticut

Ranked #1: John W. Rafal ♦ Rafal spends a lot of time helping clients distinguish between daily chatter and reality in the markets. "Despite the crazy, media-driven negative news, things are really OK. We're optimistic," he says. Most of Rafal's clients, often with a conservative 50/50 split between stocks and bonds, have averaged a very respectable annual return of 10% to 12% over the past three years. "The fiscal cliff and sequestration issues are very important and will impact the market. But, at the end of the day, corporate earnings are important, and earnings have been good." Rafal, 63, thinks we're in a secular bear market's bull phase--perhaps bringing several years of slow growth, heavy regulation, high taxes, and low interest rates. For clients' income, he favors high-dividend global stocks, REITS, and master limited partnerships. MLPs--involved in the transportation, storage, and distribution of energy products with natural-gas pipelines making up most of the class--should gain nicely from the nascent U.S. gas bonanza. --MICHAEL SISK